In a CNN interview over the weekend, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined to defend Palin’s foreign policy credentials when asked whether Palin has 'enough experience to handle the kinds of things that you need to handle?'

GOP foreign policy experts cool on Palin

In state after state, rally after rally, Sarah Palin is generating record levels of enthusiasm among the Republican base. Crowds chant her name, congressional candidates cite her in their ads and there are numerous reports of a surge in grass-roots volunteers for the McCain campaign.

The acclaim for the vice presidential nominee is all but deafening within the GOP, except in one small but influential corner: the party’s foreign policy establishment. Among that mandarin class, the response to Palin’s nomination has been underwhelming, marked by distinctly faint praise or flat-out silence.

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Consider Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, the former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who currently serves as the committee’s top-ranking Republican.

The day Sen. Joe Biden was announced as Barack Obama’s running mate, Lugar, while en route to Tbilisi, Georgia, quickly issued a statement praising the choice.

"I congratulate Sen. Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Sen. Joe Biden, to be his vice presidential running mate,” he said. “I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy.”

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In a CNN interview over the weekend, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined to defend Palin’s foreign policy credentials when asked whether Palin has “enough experience to handle the kinds of things that you need to handle?”

Rice replied: “These are decisions that Sen. McCain has made. I have great confidence in him. I’m not going to get involved in this political campaign. As secretary of state, I don’t do that. But I thought her speech was wonderful.”

While none have come out and publicly questioned the Alaska governor's level of experience in foreign affairs, few have been willing to make the case that Palin is well-versed in the field.

John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and conservative hawk on foreign affairs, segued from questions of Palin’s inexperience to McCain’s experience.

“You want your strength on national security at the top of the ticket,” Bolton told Politico at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. “I feel very comfortable with her as a vice presidential nominee, how it plays politically beyond that, I don’t know."

“As somebody who spent a good part of his professional career on foreign policy matters, I was delighted by her nomination,” he later said. “What you have to look for is extensive executive experience.”

Last week, prior to Palin’s acceptance speech, former Secretary of the Navy and former Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) chose to accentuate the positive.